Bend restaurant enacts new policy requiring workers to get vaccinated

(Update: Adding video, comments from Bend residents)

'We don't need any more exposure,' Sunriver Brewing Company owner says

BEND, Ore (KTVZ) -- Sunriver Brewing Company, which operates brewpubs in Bend, Sunriver and Eugene, is requiring all staff to get COVID-19 vaccinations.

One person reached out to us to say the deadline was Friday, Oct. 15.

I spoke on the phone with the company owner, Marc Cameron, who did not want to go on camera.  He said the alternative is termination. The company is not offering the option for a negative covid-19 test.

"We may lose employees, but we'll also be able to attract more employees," he said Thursday. "We don't need any more exposure.

With over 100 employees, he said the vaccination requirement is the best security measure, in addition to following all of CDC's guidelines.

I also spoke with two Bend residents to hear their thoughts about the restaurant's policy.

“It's tough," Laurie Lall said. "I personally feel like people should get vaccinations. I mean, I realize there's a small segment of the population that have very good reasons not to. Otherwise, we are seeing this Delta variant cause so many problems, and there's kids getting it."

"The hospitals are full, and people that get in a car accident or something can't get into the hospital. It's just out of control," she said.

Lall said she's feel a lot safer dining in a restaurant, knowing the staff has been vaccinated.

One Bend business owner said it's a very touchy subject and for her business, they had an agreement to get vaccinated to keep each other safe.

“I believe that it should be everybody's right to make that decision,” Cyndee Schoettler said. “But I also do understand it's been a tough year and a half for businesses, and they've got to do what they've got to do to survive. And if that means making vaccinations required, then they have to do that to keep people safe — not continuously shut down and go through quarantines and things like that."

Cameron said regular Covid tests are not practical, since there's so much interaction in restaurants. Although the company may lose some employees, he said reducing exposure is more important.